Google’s fight against aging: The company who cried ‘moonshot’

Chromosomes, one of the genetic instruction manuals for life, under atomic force microscopy. The arrow points to the end of the chromosome which holds telomeres, genetic sequences believed to be involved in the process of aging and some diseases. (Image: wellcome/Flickr)

Moonshots. That’s the word for Google’s big ideas and life changing inventions, like self-driving cars. Now the search giant is aiming its lunar rifle at the often painful process of getting older. “I’m excited to announce Calico, a new company that will focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases,” CEO Larry Page announced.

In the spirit of well organized PR, Timelet fly with a cover story that grandly trolled “Can Google Solve Death?” Accordingly, Twitter, Reddit, Hacker News and the corners in between filled with vibrant discussion about Google’s move and the lofty question.

To be fair, Page’s (and Google’s) wording was “the challenge of aging and associated disease” and there is a difference between that and beating death — living longer, not necessarily forever. But the company hasn’t made any noticeable effort to correct headlines that have claimed they’re working to lay off the Grim Reaper, so there is a tacit approval of the messaging. (I’ve reached out to Google for comment but haven’t heard back yet.)

No doubt, Google throwing its weight behind curing disease will catalyze some segment of medicine for the positive. Involving Mountain View’s bright minds and perhaps the greatest computing system on the planet is of course a very good thing. No debate there.

But if we’re going to continue throwing out big ideas, let’s make sure they’re actually big ideas. What Google has described in Calico is not a moonshot. What they’ve described so far barely escapes the atmosphere. They want to start a biotech company. You may have heard of this industry. Not to mention the National Institute of Health hands out some 50,000 competitive grants to 2,500+ universities that total over $31.9 billion. Not to mention tech heavyweights like Larry Ellison have been here for some time. So it’s not like Google is “bringing attention” to the problems brought on by aging and death.

And in a lot of ways, the announcement is a bit like a celebrity showing up to a disaster relief effort for the photo op. Time’s article doesn’t feature one opinion from a researcher on how Google is approaching a well-trod path, one fraught with problems that maybe even the most powerful computers can’t solve. Let’s take an objective approach until we’ve — actually — proven code and the microprocessor are our panacea.

Genetic diseases and the mechanisms of aging are staggeringly complicated, as is theorizing and implementing a solution on a petri dish or, hopefully, a patient. I worked at Harvard and MIT researching cures for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; curing genetic-based diseases is like trying to retrofit the i-beams, electricity, elevators, ductwork, and security systems on a deteriorating skyscraper without interrupting anyone’s workday.

So until Google provides real specifics on the approach to Calico, other than the effort will be headed by former Genentech CEO Art Levinson, let’s avoid acting like the geek squad finally got around to “solving death.” Cynically, this feels like a ploy to boost Google’s mystique. Optimistically, it feels like another one of Google’s fickle interests, afforded to a company that doesn’t have much competition for core revenue and can play with money. For all of the company’s adventures elsewhere, Google is still an advertising company.

“Moonshots” sound sexy but there are also shareholders grumbling “Can we please diversify revenue before someone figures out how to beat search?” That’s why the company sets its sights so high. And should the bullet miss the mark — remember when Google was going to give us energy cheaper than coal? Yeah…. — history indicates it will be just as quick to point that lunar rifle at the next thing in orbit, while a lot of scientists are left saying “Thanks for stopping by.”